WASHINGTON \u2014 An investigation into the loss of a privately operated methane monitoring satellite could not identify a single root cause for the spacecraft\u2019s failure earlier this year.<\/p>\n
MethaneSAT, a mission led by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) with participation from the New Zealand Space Agency, stopped communicating in orbit in June, 15 months after its launch. The project formally declared the mission over July 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a two-page report<\/a> released by New Zealand\u2019s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Nov. 7, an investigation into the failure said the spacecraft malfunctioned likely because of a \u201csolitary event\u201d in either its avionics unit or electrical power subsystem.<\/p>\n However, the limited data available kept investigators from making a more precise determination. \u201cWhile the investigation concluded that the direct cause began with or spread to one of the two identified subsystems, the specific reason for the system failure remains unknown,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n The report noted that either subsystem could have malfunctioned because of factors such as printed circuit board failure in the avionics unit, a printed circuit board or electronic component failure in a bus interface or a failure of a thruster or associated system that sent high current into other parts of the spacecraft.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on the limited data available, it is not possible to state the relative likelihood among these possible factors,\u201d the report concluded.<\/p>\n The report said it could not rule out several other potential causes, ranging from an orbital debris impact to \u201cunexpected fault system interactions,\u201d but concluded each was significantly less likely that the other factors.<\/p>\n The spacecraft itself remains intact, the report noted, based on on-orbit imaging of MethaneSAT taken in late June through mid-July. Those images, though, showed the spacecraft was not in its proper orientation.<\/p>\n